


ok, i guess sometimes you're right

by napenthusiast



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Chemistry, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, First Kiss, Multi, baseball lance, hockey Keith, rated teen for cursing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-30
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2019-03-11 15:44:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13527441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/napenthusiast/pseuds/napenthusiast
Summary: Lance has a problem with his Chemistry test and needs to fix its asap before baseball season starts.Keith is doing just fine in Chemistry class until professor Coran mentions that his participation portion of his grade in class is practically nonexistent and he has to do something about it.Coran sticks them together so that Keith can tutor someone and get participation points while Lance can improve his test grades. Honestly everyone wins. Coran just didn't think the two boys would get along so... well?





	1. Chapter 1 (Lance pov)

Lance was in a mood. He had just gotten the results of his chemistry test back and it wasn't so hot, the glaring 68% burning itself into the paper and his mind in all its red and circled glory. The worst part was that Lance had thought he was ready for this test. Sure, Chemistry had never been his strong suit, but he had gotten through his first quarter relatively well. He scraped through it with an A minus and was content, confident in his ability to get a better grade in the upcoming quarters and have his final grade for the class be a solid A. But now that he had received his first test of the second quarter back, he knew he may have been just a little to confident in his ability of knowing whatever the heck ions and energy levels are. So now Lance was moping while his teacher, Mr. Coran, who had asked to talk to Lance after class, was talking to another student. After the professor had sent the other student on his way, he turned to Lance. 

“Mr. Sanchez I was very surprised when grading your test, It was unusual for you to do so poorly when you are so present in class and very… passionate about participation.”

“Yes...” Lance responded, “I'm pretty disappointed in myself but I thought I was so ready for this test that I don't know what else I could have done!” 

Coran took a moment to think and stroke his mustache (seriously what kind of product does he use on that thing? Its immaculate!) before he responded, “well it seems to me that maybe you just need some extra one on one help to make sure you know the content more in depth than I teach when going over things during class time?” 

Lance was skeptical, he really did always pay attention in class and usually understood what was going on enough for him to be able to follow along and answer worksheet and lab related questions. But he thought back to his test and 68% now tucked away in his backpack and thought maybe some personal study time with professor Coran could be beneficial. 

“Uh ok, yeah that sounds good” came eloquently out of his mouth as he decided his fate, hoping it wouldn't be too boring, and that it would somehow revive his poor grade.

Coran gave him a huge smile and contently said “Ok so how about on Tuesdays and Thursdays during study hall you come in here and you can work on some more questions relating to what we will be going over in class that week. Sound good?” 

“Yeah, that sounds great, thanks professor Coran, I really want to do well in this class. Its interesting and cool, even if I think its kinda confusing sometimes” 

“No problem Lance, I really want you to succeed in this class and I know that with just a little help you can!” 

Lance thanked him again and then was out the door, happy with how his teacher believed in him and how he was willing to help him out. He walked swiftly to his locker, grabbed his empty lunchbox, haphazardly threw his jacket, hat and scarf on and then bounded out the door to the bike racks where his friends Pidge and Hunk were waiting. 

“What took you so long?” Pidge asked with their face still glued to their phone, fingers tapping furiously at the device. (They could be hacking into the school database to find their brothers locker combo or playing flappy bird, Lance may never know.) 

“I failed my Chem test and now I have to go to Corans room every Tuesday and Thursday to study and hopefully pass the class.” 

Hunk heard this and said in a somber tone, “Aw man buddy I'm sorry, I know how hard you studied for that test! You even knew the textbook definition of what a freakin valence electron was!” 

“ I know man, it's tragic. Hopefully the sessions with Coran will help me out though.” 

Pidge startled the boys out of their converstaion by spewing a long line of various curses at their phone, “Dammit I almost broke my previous record.” 

Flappy Bird it was. 

“Anyway,” Pidge continued “let's leave or were gonna be late.”

At that Lance grabbed his skateboard out from under Hunks bike, Pidge laced up their roller skates and the trio, all on their respective wheels set out for the indoor training facility that their baseball team practiced at during the colder months of the season. As the cold air blew quickly past Lance he let his thoughts wander. He had to get his grade up in chemistry, otherwise he would be put on playing suspension from the team and that absolutely could not happen. No, he told himself, that wouldn't happen because these tutor sessions with Coran are going to help, and he's going to be back on track in no time, ready to play and give it his all when the competitive season of baseball begins. 

Just as they began nearing the complex of Altea Sports, a great gust of wind spurred around them and a blur of red and black flashed passed them with the unmistakable hum of a motorcycles motor. 

“Holy Quiznak!” blurted Lance as he came to a sudden stop, skateboard wheels squeaking at the abrupt motion, “What psycho was driving that thing, they’re a complete maniac!”

Hunk just stood there straddling his bike with wide eyes, “Guys, my life just flashed before my eyes, we almost died, we were almost run over by some wacko motorcycle person, we were almost road pudding, we could ha-” 

“Hunk we are completely fine,” Pidge said with a calm tone as they readjusted their backpack, pushed their large round glasses back up onto the bridge of their nose and continued the route to baseball practice, the two shaken boys following her mutely.

Lance was still fuming as they came upon the bike rack where he ditched his skateboard and Hunk chained his trusty yellow cruiser. Who did that person think they were, speeding so quickly in a zone with so many pedestrians, mostly high school students too. He was so distracted by his internal dialogue that when the trio entered with the complex and approached the check in desk outside the locker rooms, he almost didn't realize that the senior Allura Brooks was sitting at the front desk smiling widely up at them behind a computer and papers. 

“Hey Allura!” Hunk said, he has a math class with her this year because he was in an advanced math course, thus putting him with people a grade above him, seniors. 

“Hi Hunk. How are you? You guys here for baseball?” 

“I'm doing good thanks so much, and yeah we’re here for baseball, has coach checked in already?” 

“Yes he showed up a few minutes ago, you guys are signed up for Lanes three and four for batting, and Lance the second pitching alley in the dungeon is open for you.”

Now Lance knew that Allura was in a relationship with Takashi Shirogane and if that wasn't a power couple he didn't know what possibly could be, but that didn't make him any less tongue tied around the beautiful girl. 

“Hey Allura,” he said in a tone of false confidence that he internally cringed at, “thanks for the info.” he added with a sleazy smirk that he couldn't help but plaster onto his face. A guy can have some fun right? 

Hunk and Pidge just rolled their eyes, used to Lance's antics of flirting with basically anyone that had a face. At that they headed downstairs to the lower, baseball and softball, dedicated level. Once they hung up their gear bags and changed into their workout clothes with the rest of the team they headed out into the spacious warehouse. It was set up for multiple teams, or individuals, to use at a time. Strung with nets and littered with various baseball equipment like tees, helmets and the occasional wooden or aluminum bat visible in nearly every corner and elevated surface. It smelled like sweat and worn leather and Lance felt so at home. The coach called them over and practice began, the team splitting up and working on what the coach had ordered them to do. 

“Dammit,” Lance spat as the screwball he was trying to throw hit the complete opposite side of the plate that he was aiming for. He was currently in the dungeon, rightfully named with its concrete walls, black netting that looks prison gates, and various pieces of workout equipment that had unnerving resemblance to torture devices.

“Hey man you ok? Practice is almost over, we’ll be heading out soon,” interrupted Hunk as he walked towards the water fountain located in the back of the dungeon.  
Here Lance was currently fuming at himself due not pitching a single strike all night, huh guess that the chemistry test really is getting to me he wonders as he grabs his water bottle and turns toward Hunk.

“Yeah I'm ok, just a lot on my mind I guess.” 

“Hmm gotcha, it's fine, tomorrow is Thursday, you're gonna work with Coran and kick those chemical ions butts!” 

How did Hunk know exactly what was bothering Lance, where did he get such a great best friend that always knew the right thing to say? Lance doesn't know but is forever grateful nonetheless. 

“Thanks buddy, you’re the best, cmon let's head to the locker rooms, Pidge is probably already dressed and about to flip at us for being slow again.”

After they exited the locker rooms freshly dressed and showered, ears sore from Pidges shrill shrieking of ‘Hurry up dumbasses Jeopardy comes on at seven thirty and I will shank you if I miss Alex Trebek's beautiful voice announcing the show”. They grabbed their wheels and headed towards the neighborhood where they all conveniently resided in. Lance's home was the first one they approached, with its white picket fence and various children's toys strewn all around the front lawn, it was a family house through and through. He threw a goodbye over his shoulder towards his friends as they continued to their own homes. 

“Mama i'm here,” he announced as he toed off his worn navy converse and plunked his skateboard next to the front door. He walked through the front hallway into the kitchen where his mother stood over the stove cooking some beans and taco meat. 

“Hi baby, how was your day? Was practice good?” 

“It was good, practice could’ve gone better for pitching but its ok,” he responded as his two little brothers ran through the kitchen screaming at each other with nerf guns in hand. 

Mama Sanchez sighed before turning her head toward the living room where the noises had migrated to,“Max and Leo stop yelling right now. If I you break another picture frame you will be in BIG trouble!”

The screaming abruptly stopped as the little boys headed to their mothers warning. Then Lance heard the telltale pitter patter of childrens feet as the two twins ran out into the backyard to continue their nerf war. 

“Well at least they won't break another picture.”

\-----------------------------------------

Later that night as Lance was setting the table for dinner he was debating whether or not to tell his parents about the chemistry results. He knew he could, they wouldn't be mad, just disappointed, which was not an expression he liked to see on his loved ones faces, especially when it was directed towards himself. As he placed down the last plate and went to go grab forks he decided that he wouldn't tell them just yet, he didn't need them to worry about his grades, they were his and he was going to get it back up to an A in no time. With these private sessions with Coran, there was no need to worry, it was just one test, one out of many that he was going to do great in. 

So when the whole family was sitting at the table, loud voices booming to be heard above others and his father asked him how school was going he just pasted on a smile and responded as he would have any other day. 

“It was fine dad, but practice was rough I dunno why but I couldn't get my screwball at all today. It's probably nothing though, I'll be fine tomorrow. With that his father just gave him a reassuring smile and nod then returning to his plate and digging in. 

Lance gave a smile back and grabbed for the beans next to him giving himself a huge portion, yep that's right, he thought to himself, tomorrow will be a better day, it's all gonna be great.


	2. Chapter 2 (Keith pov)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith gets 'hired' as a tutor by professor Coran.

Keith was angry. This was not a rare occurrence, for he was usually in a state of general irritation at literally everyone around him. But at this particular moment he was angry at his Chemistry teacher. He knew it wasn't entirely his teachers fault, Coran was a good man, but Keith couldn't help but be bitter about the fact that his grade in the class was suffering even though he aced every test and turned in all his classwork on time, actually he turned most of it in early, but that's beside the point.

“Keith, are you listening to me?” Coran said as he crouched down to peer into Keith's eyes, his bushy mustache twitching as he awaited a reply from the teen.

“Yes, sorry professor, I am listening, I just don't understand why participation points are worth such a great portion of my grade.”

“Ah of course,” Coran replied, smiling slightly as if to pity how little Keith cares about his peers when he’s so far ahead of them in this class, “well you see Keith, highschool is a time where you need to learn social skills that will prepare you for your future adult life! And that includes being able to participate in group and partner assignments. ”

Real life my ass, when I get older i'm going into space, who needs a social life when you’re floating in the cosmos? Keith thought to himself, but replied politely to Coran with, “Oh right, real life, well… what can I do to get my grade up? I don't exactly like the entire class staring at me so I usually keep to myself.”

“That's perfectly understandable if classroom environments aren't your forte, would one on one time with another student be more doable for you?”

Keith mulled the thought over in his head, being in a classroom kinda sucked, he was constantly surrounded by loud kids whos eyes glazed over when teachers began to go into depth about interesting topics. One on one time with just one other person did sound much more appealing, and if he got the points he needed to get his grade back up to a 100.7% then it was probably worth it.

“Yeah Mr. Coran, that sounds like it would be great for me. When do you think I can start? I’d like to improve my grade by the end of this grading quarter, if at all possible.”

“Well Keith, I have the perfect opportunity for you! I have a student that struggled with the past unit, the one with valence electrons and electron configurations. I think you would be the perfect candidate to help tutor him on the topic, because you did so well on all the quizzes and tests.”

Keith hoped that he didn't visibly cringe (judging by Corans face he probably did), because Keith really hated tutoring people, his patience was practically nonexistent and he got easily pissed at people who needed things to be explained to them more than one time. Keith knew this was pretty assholey (is that a word? I dunno, I’ll ask Shiro, he has that weird pocket dictionary with odd words in it), but as stated before, patience has never been and never will be Keith's strong suit.

“Umm, Im not sure professor, I don't really think I am the best choice for a tutor to be honest.”

Coran just smiled, his orange facial hair shooting upwards as his lips formed a crescent, “Nonsense Keith, you’re one of my best students, and the student you would be tutoring is eager to do well and learn, really I think this opportunity is in both of your best interests. If you do this and the student does well on his next quiz, you will receive the participation points you need. It's a beneficial situation for the both of you!”

Keith was still pretty skeptical, but the way Coran was saying it, if he could just make this kid understand the upcoming unit and get him to pass the quiz, Keith would get his 100.7% back and he could go back to his usual routine of reading books during class. Although to avoid this situation again he might start to raise his hand every once and awhile to answer a question or two.

With this he decided his fate and opened his mouth to say, “Ok Mr. Coran, I think you’re right, tutoring this student sounds like a good idea to me. What times should we meet? (to get this over with as soon as humanly possible, he internally chided)”

“I think Tuesdays and Thursdays during free period would work I will have to check with him but is that alright with you?”

“Yes that sounds fine, I will be here then, thank you for this opportunity professor.” and with that Keith left the room and turned into the recently vacated hallways lined with beat up red lockers and obnoxiously yellow fluorescent lights.

He he let out a huge sigh, what had he just gotten himself into? Tutoring? What type of person needs a tutor anyway? He was probably going to be working with some dumb kid that doesn't pay attention in class and will just ask for the answers without making any attempt to show work or put in any semblance of effort into the problems at hand.

Whatever, he thought to himself as he walked past closed classroom doors, I just need to get through a few weeks at most, and then he’ll take the quiz, hopefully retains some of the basic concepts I teach him, receives a good grade and then I will be free of this tutoring business with a few extra participation points in the gradebook.

After Keith had sulked his way through the science hallway with his backpack slung over his shoulder, he made his way toward the school parking lot where his motorcycle was parked. It had taken him a lot of persuasion of Shiro and pulling strings within the foster community for him to be permitted to build, get licensed for, and drive his bike. But it was worth it because at times like these he could hop on the sturdy mount and zoom away from his problems with a loud rev of his engine.

As he approached the building that housed the ice rink where his hockey practice was held, he became more and more agitated at the fact that he had to gain some dumb participation points for Chemistry of all classes. Who the hell even invented participation points anyway? If he wanted to be in class where he was graded on his social interaction he would have taken that terrifying seminar class that he had heard about where the class sits in a circle of desks everyday and just… talks. Keith didn’t know what kind of crazy person would voluntarily apply to that class but he also didn’t know that much about how people's brains worked in general. While Keith got lost in his thoughts, he hadn't even realized that he was now on the wrong road to get him to the complex. Muttering a swear under his breath he revved his engine once again and sped up in hopes of making it to practice on time.

\-----------------------------------------

10 minutes later, because Keith had gotten stuck behind the slowest mini van on earth, he had 3 minutes to get to Alteas Ice Rink before Shiro threw him a disappointed look and gave him yet another lecture on time management. Keith loved his brother, he really did, but if he had to endure another speech about getting a watch that had "all of these amazing features! Look at this button it makes it glow in the dark!" Keith thinks he might fall on the ice and let his teammates run over them in their bladed shoes. With that gruesome thought in mind, Keith leaned forward on his motorcycle and flew forward, pedestrians blurring by him as his destination rapidly got closer. In record time he brought his bike to a stop, threw off his helmet, grabbed his pack, and ran into the cold waiting room of the ice rink. He ran past the front desk where Allura was sitting and launched himself into the hockey teams dressing room where everyone was lacing up their skates.

As he entered he gave everyone a small smile (that probably looked like a wheeze/cringe because of how out of breath he was) and blurted out, "Sorry I'm late, my Chemistry teacher thinks I need more social interaction and now I'm going to fail his class because I have to tutor someone and I have zero patience.”

Upon hearing himself say this Keith went bright red and bowed his head.

"Uh, I mean, my teacher wanted to talk to me?" he said meekly without lifting his head.

At this Shiro, Keith reminded himself that he was his brother and that he loved him, bursted out laughing, in loud and unabashed heaves.

"Oh my God Keith, Coran is taking participation points from you?”

“Uh yeah… Wait how did you know it was participation points?”

“Keith I know all you do in that class is read. Remember Matt is the T.A. for your period? He tells me the horror stories from that class and says that you literally didn't even bat an eye when a bunsen burner caught a guys sweatshirt on fire.”

“To be fair I was reading Frankenstein which is very enticing, and i'm sure that the fire wasn't that bad.”

“Keith, Matt told me that the kid had to use the safety shower they have in chemistry rooms in case someone spills acid or something, a person was literally being doused in gallons of water 10 feet from you and your eyes were still glued to a book.”

To defend himself Keith stated, “You learn to tune things out when the book is good!”

“Ok little brother, but I know all your test grades are good, so it had to do with the fact that you are never fully ‘present’ in class.”

At this keith turned and started shoving his shoulder pads on over his head, “You and your obnoxiously accurate perception skills, also, tell Matt to stop gossiping about me.”

Shiro just gave a placid smiled and nodded as he grabbed his hockey stick and made for the rink, skates making loud thumps as they hit the rubbered floor.

Keith rushed to put on the rest of him uniform and lace up his skates. He quickly grabbed a hair tie from his bag and grappled with his unruly hair to get it into something that resembled a bun. With that he snatched his helmet from the bench and followed the team out of the locker room.

\-----------------------------------------

Practice went as usual, stretch on dry land before practice officially started to save ice time, warm up on the ice, run some situations and routines, a quick warm down/ individual time on the ice, and then stretch out the tired muscles once your skates were taken off. It was grueling work, but Keith lived for the rush of air that hit his face through the mask of his helmet as he glided over the ice on a freshly resurfaced rink.

After the final stretches the team broke apart and headed to their respectable homes. Keith packed up his stuff and shoved it into his locker, giving it a satisfactory slam shut.

Then he turned to Shiro and said, “See you at home?”

“Yeah, i'll be there soon, im just gonna say hi to Allura real quick.”

“Mhm ok see you then, i’ll start dinner. We still have some of those frozen dumplings right?”

“Yep I think so, thanks Keith, also when your on your bike remember that speed limits exist for a reason!”

“Yes, they exist for the sole purpose of being broken.” said Keith with a smug smile as dashed out of the complex towards his motorcycle and made his way to the tiny apartment that him and Shiro shared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahh chapter 2 has become a real thing! i really loved writing in keiths perspective because hes just so sweet. also shiro and matts bromance is one of my favorite things so it will definitely be mentioned frequently in this fic. i also want to mention that i know absolutely nothing about hockey so if anyone is familiar with the sport. help!  
> anywho thanks again for the read! the warm welcome this fic has received makes me smile :)  
> byebye,  
> napenthusiast


	3. Chapter 3 (Lance pov)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith finally meet, who knew chemistry could be this easy?

Lance woke up to the sultry tones of Rihanna blaring directly into his eardrum. Despite the terror most people would feel after just having their heart jump started by “Pour it Up” at 6:30 in the morning, he just let out a long sigh and flipped his body over so he was now even more tangled in his covers than he had been a moment previously. He was still sore from practice last night and the thought of leaving his room to challenge his siblings for bathroom space was horrifyingly unappealing. He laid there contemplating dropping out of school and becoming a stripper, but concluded that his desire to become an astronaut and see the cosmos outweighed his momentary hatred for his privileged education. When the rapid clapping accompanying the lead singer became too much to bear for his poor sleep riddled brain, he got up and scrambled for his phone to change the song to something more appropriate for the upcoming morning. Lordes ‘The Love Club’ began to play and he went to gather his facial creams before kicking his younger siblings out of the bathroom so he could shower.  
-  
He took a deep breath before opening the bathroom door after he had completed his morning routine, the house outside his temporary bubble of calm was as hectic as a war zone, and he had to be prepared. Immediately after he stepped out of the room, shower steam billowing out from behind him, his tiny brother Leo zoomed past him in just his pajama pants and a makeshift cape out of his froggy patterned bedsheets. 

“Slow down there Captain Tadpole, it would be a shame if you fell and didn't have any developed arms to catch you!” 

“Shut up Lance! That wasn't even funny, I’d be in the young frog stage anyway!” Leo replied defiantly as he trampled down the stairs. 

Lance just grinned as he followed Leo down the stairs towards the scent of eggs, cheese, and fresh tortillas. At the bottom of the steps he took in who was already downstairs; both the twins, his older sister Monica, his oldest younger brother Nico, his youngest sibling Sophia, and of course, always the early bird, his father. He caught a quick glimpse of his mom kissing his dad on the cheek, ruffling the boys hair as they sat on the two kitchen bar stools before turning towards the door for work. As she stepped out of the house she turned her head and shouted out to be heard over the noisy happenings of the living area, “Bye kids, be good, love you all and have a great day at school!’ 

Immediately a chorus of “Bye mom! Love you too!” and “Have fun at work” could be heard as he closed the door behind him. Then Lance continued his way towards the kitchen to where his dad was standing over a frying pan of eggs and a plate of tortillas. 

“Morning hijo, you want a breakfast burrito?” He said without taking her eyes off the spoon he was using to serve Max from across the bar. 

“Cant say no to that. I'll make my own, thanks dad.”

“No problem kiddo,” he turned and gave Lance a small genuine smile, but then quickly whipped his head around as he heard Sophia yell in anger, “Nicolas I told you to stop telling Sophia that dragons are not real, they are majestic creatures that should be appreciated!”  
-  
10 minutes of laughter, scarfing down food, and shout talking later, Lance slipped on his worn Chucks and grabbed his jacket. It was a colder day so he decided to take his car instead of skateboarding through the chilly morning dew. He approached Blue with an unknown fondness in his eyes. The beat up light blue chevy truck was not a particularly pretty sight for most, but to Lance she was his baby, and he loved to drive her. He got in and revved the engine, plugging in his phone to the aux cord, he decided to reminisce his alarm this morning and play some Rihanna again, Talk that Talk began to stream through his speakers as he pulled out of his driveway toward Hunks house to pick him up. When he pulled up to his best friends house he turned the music obnoxiously loud so it could definitely be heard from outside of the car. 

Lances and Rihanna's voices rang out together as the climax of the song came on, “Give it to me baby! I want it all night, give it to me baby. What you sayin now baby, give it to me babyyyyyyyy” 

This was the moment Hunk flew out of his front door at top speeds signaling for him to turn it down. Begrudgingly Lance complied, and unlocked the passenger door so Hunk could slide his backpack and himself into the vehicle. 

“Lanceee,” Hunk said dragging his hands down his face dramatically, “you know Shay lives directly next to me! You are not allowed to play suggestive songs when you are in my driveway!” 

“Oh whoops, that rule must’ve slipped my mind.” Lance replied as he put the car in reverse and pulled out of the driveway before he turned and made his way towards school. 

“Ugh you are insufferable.” 

“It isn't mean if I don't know what the word means.” Lance says with a wink. 

“Oh please Mr. ‘I don't secretly read books in my freetime” cool kid.” 

Lance just grins, “Takes one to know one.” 

Hunk just smiled back and leaned forward to turn up the music again, Love the Way You Lie  
starting notes began to drift through the speakers. His face lit up, “I call Eminem's part!” 

“Ugh fine, I guess I'll be Rihanna today, but if my vocal chords hate me tonight I will be blaming you entirely.” 

The rap started and the duo began to sing together in the beat up car as they turned into the school parking lot and searched for a spot to park in the crowded lot.  
-  
His first period AP astronomy went smoothly enough. He was taking it as his elective this year and was one of his favorite classes by far. After he exited the classroom he made his way to the shared locker to give Pidge a batting glove he realized had accidently stuck to his sweatshirt last night when he got home. He saw Pidges tiny figure swallowed up in a huge sweatshirt that had to belong to Matt leaning against the dingy red lockers tapping away at their phone. 

“Hey Pidge, here’s your tiny ass batting glove.”

“Thanks, also fuck you.”

“Not my fault you have gremlin hands.” 

Pidge decided to not to acknowledge his jab and instead responded with,“Your gonna be late to your tutoring with Coran if you stay any longer.”

Lance internally winced, not looking forward to studying chem during a time he usually just hung around in the lunchroom with the baseball team for free period,“It’s a worthy cause to be late if it was spent being in your presence.”

“I’m honored, but now you gotta run.” They responded over their shoulder as they turned towards the music hallway to practice for the upcoming musical, they were in the pit orchestra. 

Lance thought fondly of Pidge, already quite small, dwarfed by their full size bass. Until he checked his phone and saw that they were right, “Ugh, see ya at practice,” and then he bolted towards the science hallway.  
-

“Hi professor Coran,” Lance panted out as he caught his breath after his sprint to to the Chemistry classroom. 

Coran looked up from his desk where he was supposedly grading papers, “Oh hello Lance, I’m glad you could make it. You’re here to work on studying for the upcoming quizzes and test on the electron configuration unit correct?” 

“Yes, that's it!” 

“Ok well Keith will be here soon, I’ll be with you in a second, just let me clean this up real quick,” He said as he gestured towards the mess of papers on his desk. 

“Erm ok, thanks,” He began to make his way towards a lab bench as a million thoughts ran through his mind. Lance had no idea who this Keith guy was. Maybe he was here for tutoring too? Lance wasn't too keen on sharing Coran with someone else trying to learn the material but he assumed it would be better than going to class and not knowing what was going on at all. As he pulled out his stool, put his bag down and grabbed his Chemistry related notes out of his backpack, a boy with pale marble skin and raven black hair walked into the classroom. He looked like he had recently sucked on a lemon, face all scrunched up in distaste as if this was the last place he wanted to be. Lance couldn't help but think how attractive the boy would be if his face wasn't so constipated, he had a nice build and pret- Lance stopped himself right there, no time for that kind of thinking, he was here for chemistry help and that's all. 

“Oh Keith you're here!” Professor Coran said to the boy as he walked deeper into the classroom.

Oh nooooo. That boy was Keith? He looked like a pain, not to mention his above ye nonchalant way he carried himself, like he knew he was that pretty or something. Lance was to distracted with his thoughts to notice Coran and Keith making their way towards him. 

“Ok Lance, this is Keith, he will be your tutor for the next few weeks!” 

Wait… What? Lance was pretty sure he looked like a gaping fish for a solid 30 seconds. He swallowed thickly trying to gather his wits together, “Uhhhhh,” he said unintelligibly, “ I thought you were going to be the one helping me Professor.” 

“My apologies for the confusion my boy!” he exclaimed while clapping a hand onto Lances back, as if this was no big deal, “but Keith here needs some participation points and working with you will benefit both of you! It's like a symbiotic relationship!” 

“Yay,” Lance responded dryly, “symbiosis.”

Coran was not deterred, his smile still ever present under his mustache, “I will be at my desk, but if you need any help just give me a shout, It would probably be best if you went over the notes and then work on completing the homework together.” 

At that Coran went back to the front of the room, and Lance was left alone perched on a lab stool with Keith standing awkwardly next to him. 

“Sooooooo, the names Lance.” Lance said with a half have in attempt to break the awkward tension that was present. 

“Keith,” the other boy responded dully, “do you have your notes out?” 

“Straight to business then, yeah they're out, wanna go over them real quick? I think I understood most of it, but I kinda got confused at the noble gas configuration part.” 

Keith began to sit down onto the labstool next to him,“Oh that’s easy, what don't you get?” 

“Well it's obviously not easy for me if I don't understand it Mr. Smarty pants. Why don't you try and teach it to me, because ya know, your the tutor here!” 

Keith just raised an eyebrow at him and grabbed his pencil right out of his hand.

“Hey!” Lance squaked. 

Keith flipped open his notebook and started writing configurations in the worst handwriting Lance had ever seen, “So basically you can abbreviate the really long configurations by using elements in the noble gas group,” he looked up towards the large periodic table on the wall and pointed to the farthest column on the right, “put the noble gas from the previous period in brackets, like this” he scribbled something that resembled the symbol of the element Neon, “and then you finish the rest of the configuration for the period that's being filled.” 

Lance just stared at his newly defiled notebook, “Wow, your handwritings really bad.” 

Keith just glared at him, “Im aware, but it gets the job done, now do you understand or not?” 

At his question Lance realized, even though the writing looked like chicken scratch, that he did actually understand most of what was written down and what Keith had previously said, ‘I think I got it, give me one to try out?” 

Keith slid Lance his notebook and pencil back, and chose a question from the homework for Lance to attempt. They continued with the entire sheet, Lance cheering when he answered a question correctly correct, or whined and scrunched up his face while trying it again when he got one wrong. 

Eventually the bell rang signaling time for their next class. 

“Hey, we just finished the last question on the sheet! Yessss no homework for Lance!”

Keith smiled at his enthusiasm, it was a nice look on him, “Yeah, good work, you made electron configuration your bitch.” 

Lance couldn't help but laugh and throw his head back, “Fuck yeah I made electron configuration my bitch. Thanks Keith, couldn't have done it without you.” He said with mock sincerity that wasn't really as fake as it sounded. 

“Happy to help, see you next time?” Keith asked cautiously bowing his head like he was nervous for Lances response. 

“Yeah, see you then Mullet!” and with that Lance bolted for the door to go to his next class, seminar.  
-  
So what if the rest of the day after free period he couldn't shake the image of grey shining eyes and black as night hair. It didn't mean anything, Lance could appreciate nice things (like the way Keith's canines were exceptionally white and pearly when he smiled at something Lance said), that didnt mean he had to look forward to his next tutoring session. Because he was definitely not looking forward to it. Not at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks so much for reading!! schools been pretty hectic so there will probably not be a set update schedule for this fic until summer :(  
> byebye,  
> napenthusiast


	4. Chapter 4 (Keith pov)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You look like an emo wet dream."
> 
> "Gee thanks that’s the look I was going for," Keith replied sardonically.
> 
> Shiro gave him a sympathetic half smile, "Sorry for waking you up, I really didn’t mean to be loud, it's just it was dark and my toe doesn’t have eyes so it couldn’t see the rapidly approaching doorframe."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyo!   
> so this is chapter four, hope you enjoy!   
> also ppls comments have been making me so happy. thank you!!   
> keith is so fun to write i love him with a passion- a memoir  
> anyway bye for now,  
> napenthusiast

Keith was pissed off. Although many who associated with him knew that being hopelessly pessimistic was his natural state, today he was feeling particularly shitty. He woke up to Shiro leaving their shared apartment at asscrack o’clock in the morning to go on a run, who the hell wakes up two hours before school to go on a run? Shiro, thats who, and Keith, thanks to his adoptive parents wealth and hope for them to lead a normal public school life, was currently living with said older brother in an apartment near Garrison High school. Keith was ecstatic to be living with his older brother don’t get him wrong, Shiro was the most important person in his life. His parents loved him and Shiro so very much, but they were always at business conventions and away for long periods of time, so Keith and Shiro grew to rely on and care for each other in many ways other siblings can't say they do. One day when Keith made an offhand comment about going to public school for highschool instead of private like his elementary and middle schools, Shiro stared at him with a thoughtful look in his eye and after a beat of silence replied with a simple, “I think that would be awesome.” The option was quickly discussed and decided on with their parents, and the summer before Keith's freshman year he was moving into a two bedroom apartment with his older brother. Usually living with Shiro was a breeze, the two of them got along well, they communicated well enough that when life got hectic they could go home and decompress together by watching crappy movies and eating unhealthy amounts of popcorn. But notice how Keith used the word usually. Because today Keith was awoken two hours before his alarm went off by Shiro cursing at the doorframe he so eloquently rammed his toe into moments before. At first Keith was worried for his elder brother, thinking the boy was having a nightmare or being slaughtered in his room, but when Keith glanced at his clock and saw that the time was when Shiro always goes for his morning run, and heard the muffled "fuck you, stupid ass wall" through his door, he began to connect the dots, and threw his face back into his pillow heaving a heavy sigh.  
-  
Two hours with not even a wink of sleep later, Shiro reentered the apartment to see Keith standing next to the kitchen sink sipping from his coffee and looking a little worse for wear. Shiro was sure to tell him as much.

"You look like an emo wet dream."

"Gee thanks that’s the look I was going for," Keith replied sardonically.

Shiro gave him a sympathetic half smile, "Sorry for waking you up, I really didn’t mean to be loud, it's just it was dark and my toe doesn’t have eyes so it couldn’t see the rapidly approaching doorframe."

"Ugh there you go saying stupidly endearing shit that makes me unable to stay mad at you."

Shiro chuckled as he padded into the kitchen to make himself a smoothie before he went to shower and get ready for school, "Well I'm glad, because it's raining and you are not riding your bike in this weather, so I'm driving you today."

Keith made a face, he loved riding his motorcycle and wanted to be able to drive it to hockey practice today so he could blow off some steam if his tutoring session didn’t go well, "Mmm, if I can't bring myself to be mad at you I will be mad at the world for providing such horrific weather." 

"Fair enough," Shiro calmly responded as he clicked the smoothie button on the blender the loud rumbling of healthy things Keith could not name being blended together filled the room.   
-  
Thirty minutes and two more cups of coffee later, Keith was sitting next to Shiro as they drove up to the stop light in front of the Garrison. As they were waiting for the light to turn green, a terrifyingly beat up blue truck appeared behind them. It was also blaring obnoxious pop music that was much too upbeat for the morning Keith was having. Shiro side eyed Keith as he sunk lower into the passenger seat, a permanent scowl etched onto his face and grabbed at his phone to turn up the volume in their own car and selected the song 'Shake Dog Shake' by The Cure. It drowned out the upbeat tones of the song coming from the truck quite nicely.

"Really Keith?" Shiro practically screamed in attempt to be heard over the blaring music.

Keith just responded by sinking impossibly lower into his seat and shifting his glare towards the passenger window so he didn’t need have to see his brothers mirth filled stare that was undoubtedly directed at him. Shiro just heaved an adoring sigh and drove the car into the parking lot of Garrison high school to start their day.   
-  
Keith parted ways with Shiro as they walked into the building, Shiro going towards the cafeteria to meet with Allura and his friends before the bell rang, and Keith towards his first period so he could read his book in peace. When he arrived at his English classroom he greeted his teacher, Mrs. Rowley, politely and found his way to the back of the classroom where his seat was located. The rest of the class filtered in quickly after the bell rang and the class began once attendance was taken. Mrs. Rowley gave the class the entire period to work on their research essays that were assigned as their second quarter project. Keith had chosen to research rockets and interstellar space travel as his topic, and happily worked on the essay diligently throughout the entire period.

When the bell signifying the end of class rang, Keith packed up and slowly made his way to the science hallway of the building. He was stalling and he knew it, walking as slow as possible and stopping to get a drink of water, unfortunately he also knew that there was no avoiding his predicament. He had to do this tutoring thing if he wanted his A back in Chemistry, but that didn't mean he had to like it. This was what was going through his head as he walked into Professor Corans classroom. 

“Oh Keith you’re here!” Said Professor Coran once he noticed him, “Thank you for coming in, the person you are going to be helping out is sitting back there on one of the lab benches.” At this Coran gestured to a seemingly tall (he couldn't see his legs for they were hidden behind the labbench), skinny, and intensely hot boy that was perched precariously on the edge of his labstool. 

“Oh ok,” Keith said after taking a deep breath. That was who he was working with? He doesn't really look like some dumb jock that didn't know waters chemical formula was H2O. At this Keith mentally berated himself for stereotyping like he was in a pop culture movie, but really, what could this pretty boy need help with in chemistry, it's not like the class was particularly hard. While all these thoughts were streaming through his mind, Keith didn't realize that he had automatically begun to follow after Coran when moved forward, and unfortunately they were on a direct course for his tutoring student. 

When they reached the boy, who was even more attractive up close, Professor Coran began to introduce them to each other, “Ok Lance, this is Keith, he will be your tutor for the next few weeks!” 

When Coran said the word tutor, the boy, Lance, looked at Coran like he had just told him the world was ending. Keith was mildly offended, despite Shiro's taunting he didn't think he looked like that much of a degenerate today. Sure, maybe his jeans were ripped and his ears were pierced, but his hair was brushed clean and his clothes were always freshly washed. 

But then Lance finally opened his mouth and blurted out, “Uhhhhh I thought you were going to be the one helping me Professor.” 

As Coran and Lance had a short discussion over their miscommunication, Keith forgave the boy for his ‘end of the world look’ that had painted his face earlier. Keith also would have been thrown for a loop if he thought he was going to be helped by his teacher only to be forced to work with someone he had never interacted with before. As he was coming to this conclusion, Coran began to address Keith after the boy responded unenthusiastically to something Coran had mentioned previously about a symbiotic relationship between the two. 

“I will be at my desk, but if you need any help just give me a shout. It would probably be best if you went over the notes and then work on completing the homework together.” 

And then Coran left Keith standing next to Lance, who was sitting awkwardly on a lab stool and staring at him with bright blue eyes. After a beat the boy gave him a little half wave and smirk before beginning to speak, “Sooooooo, the names Lance.”  
And… Yep that smirk was really hot an-- what the fuck Keith get your head out of your ass you’re here to tutor the kid not oogle him. He needed to respond before the silence got even more awkward. Ok, keep it casual and professional, don't be weird. 

“Yeah, Im Keith,” he responded dumbly, “do you have your notes out?” 

What the fuck. Way to go Keith, be the shittiest tutor ever. Mentally screaming at himself he looked down towards the labbench and saw that Lance had a binder opened in front of himself and was flicking through notes on electron configuration. Once Lance began to speak Keith lifted his head up to meet the other boys gaze. 

“Straight to business then, yeah they're out, wanna go over them real quick? I think I understood most of it, but I kinda got confused at the noble gas configuration part,”

Keith silently thanked god that Lance didn't seem entirely deterred at Keith's lack of social skills, and began to pull out the lab stool next to Lance and sit upon it while beginning to say, “Oh that’s easy, what don't you get?” 

Lance huffed out a short breath,“Well it's obviously not easy for me if I don't understand it Mr. Smarty pants. Why don't you try and teach it to me, because ya know, your the tutor here!” 

Ok, if that’s how it's going to be, Keith wont argue, he is the tutor after all. So he grabbed Lances pencil from said boys hand and slid the slightly beat up blue notebook towards himself before beginning to explain how noble gas configurations work. 

Once he was done and pushed the notebook back towards Lance for him to analyze the work, Lance just stared at the paper before bluntly saying, “Wow, your handwritings really bad.”

Keith just glared at the other boy before responding, “Im aware, but it gets the job done, now do you understand or not?” 

Lance seemed unfazed by his seemingly rude statement and just replied with, “I think I got it, give me one to try out?” 

Keith obliged and took the sheet of homework that had been assigned to them earlier in the week and began to choose problems for Lance to attempt. The rest of the period went similarly to their previous conversation, bickering with each other but getting problems done nonetheless. When the bell rang the duo had just completed the last problem that was on the homework.

Lance looked up at Keith brightly and beamed at him, ““Hey, we just finished the last question on the sheet! Yessss no homework for Lance!”

Keith just smiled, feeling content that Lance was actually understanding the topic and willing to work hard to get the grade he wanted. Also, Keith was glad that Lance was getting along with him, and that said boy was easy to be around and have good conversations with. 

“Yeah, good work, you made electron configuration your bitch.” 

At Keith's statement Lance threw his head back and let out a loud and pretty laugh, “Fuck yeah I made electron configuration my bitch. Thanks Keith, couldn't have done it without you.” 

This made Keith feel good, he was glad he could help Lance out, this boy wasn't some dumb kid that did not give a shit about chemistry. Lance really wanted to do well, and Keith was glad that he could help him out, so he said as much.

“Happy to help, see you next time?” 

Lance just gave him another toothy smile that faded into his ever present smirk, “Yeah, see you then Mullet!” and with that he bolted out of the room like there was fire on his heels towards (hopefully) his next class. 

Keith sighed, what had he gotten himself into? He just wanted to get participation points in chemistry class back, not to make nice with boys he's never met before. Get a grip Keith, you'll just see him a few more times for tutoring until the next quiz and then nothing. Nothing, you will have an A in the class again in time for third quarter, yes, thats what will happen. By third quarter he will not be a chemistry tutor, he will be able to focus on hockey playoffs with no distractions whatsoever. 

It's not like he thought about tawny brown hair and a shockingly white smile for the rest of the day. Because he most definitely did not think about such things. Not at all

**Author's Note:**

> hi!! if you got this far thanks so much for reading :) this is my first fic so i honestly dont know how anything on this works but here i am.   
> anyway thanks again for reading and i hope you enjoyed it!  
> byebye,  
> napenthusiast


End file.
